Folks Of Interest An Interview With Von Dutch

Thanks Ryan and Terry for the great video. What a talented and interesting character.

 

Ryan - Thanks for sharing Mr. Cook's video interview with Von Dutch.

Here's a pic of the flamed Gullwing Mr. Howard spoke of:


click thumbnail to enlarge

 

Been a while but he is on the HAMB, Terrydactyl

 

Thank You!

 

Good stuff

 

Here is an interview taken from a 1956 Car Craft little mag.
Sorry, don't have a scanner but you should be able to click on the pics a couple of times and be able to read them.

 

Thanx for Sharing, Very Kool...

 

I like the way he covered his mouth when he was chuckling, it showed humility. Mr. Cook gave you (us) a gift. For free. Thanx.

 

Dig it!
Just what i needed after clocking into work tonite!

Thanks Ryan

 

That first Lead East show was history in the making. Ant can tell you all the cars that hadn't seen the light of day in MANY years showed up at the racetrack!
I was a bit disappointed at Dutch, after reading about him for all those years. He was a cool guy, but not like the legend I had made him up to be, looked so tired and worn out. The rest of the weekend was MAGIC, though, Terry pulled out all the stops...REAL drive in burger joint, REAL drive in movie theater, just open to Kustoms, GREAT concert, great stage, fantastic entrance by the groups...the stage was made up to look like the back of a 57 Chevy, w/connie kit. Chicks on roller skates came rolling down the aisle of the theater, grabbed the "license plate", lifted it up like a garage door, and Egon's Lasalle drives out from it, with the first group jumping out of it. I believe There was also an antique Harley riding around inside.

 

He was also a great machinest, if you've never seen any of the guns that he made your really missing something. He kept an old school bus on his property filled with lathes, drill presses, etc. and he would scratch build pistols for customers. Truley amazing

 

I was there too, he signed the back of a Lead east window sticker

 

Cool video. Not really what I was expecting from him. But, he seems like a good dude.

 

Terry's a great promoter, no doubt, and he pulled out all the stops for that first show. He hired a Kansas City friend of mine, Cornell Chirila, to install hydraulics in Terry's '59 Cad during the show as a another feature attraction that year. When Cornell got back to KC, I asked him what Von Dutch's role as an attraction was and he said, "He sat in a van and drank beer!".

Thanks for the video. It shows him to be rational, intelligent, humble, even mellow and seemingly sober. A complex person to say the least.

 

Thanks for sharing! That was great!

 

Many, many thanks ! Very cool indeed !!


JK www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

Yep, yep, and yep! It would be GREAT to help Dean Jeffries find his Mercury convertible someday, maybe this video going viral will help that happen.

Neat video and insights from the guys that were there. I wasn't even pedaling my pedal car yet

 

He is a legend.

 

Yeah, how's the timing?
Eccentric, moody and opinionated or not, Kenny was kool. Thanks for posting this clip.


Dig this pic too!

 

Very interesting, I expected Him to be different then portrayed, that's cool.. thanks

 

I came across this image today, which is supposed to be Bruce's 300SL, but the front view doesn't quite match the more common rear 3/4 black and white photo where the flames are coming up over the front fender forms...you can't see that happening here. Two different cars, or maybe this front view is before the other flames?

 

Talking about bad breaks and there's a wreck right there... hahahaha!!

 

Jones Foyer,
Wow that is a bad ass photo! Where did you find that image? I've never seen that one before. That's Earle Bruce in the suit in the upper left corner. This photo is a front view of the car in it's first paint job of Sam Barris Bronze.

After it was painted at Barris' in a solid color, at some point soon after the gold/Copper details and pinstriping were added by Von Dutch. Then in a final attempt to cover up the unstable paint, Bruce had Dutch flame the entire car as it might look if the car caught fire. The flamed version is the most famous version of Bruce's Gull Wing.

I was fortunate to get to know Bruce pretty good in his later years. He was a lot like Dutch and one of the last of a dying Breed.

-Aaron

 

Oh, great Aaron, thanks! I was pretty sure it wasn't the same paintjob. It's funny that there aren't more pictures of this car, being so iconic. The film of the car at the car show reads as very purplish color, I would suspect that this photo is a more accurate depiction of the color, which is described as "root beer."

It's funny that even pictures of this car get people riled up. I love it. It's totally anti-establishment and does what a hot rod should do- piss people off.

The photo comes from a book which is new to me. Higher res photo on this site:

http://www.dadsstyle.com/valvebounce/2011/01/pimp-my-gullwing.html

 

Very crazy guy, but oh so talented!!!!!!

 

Good video, crazy guy but one hell of an artist.

 

yeah, I never met him, but heard all kinds of rumors about him. He doesnt sound willd or wacky. My cars at that time were usually fully or partially primered. He was THE man to go to tho. Later on more guys were getting striped, then one of my friends showed me his new striping and I asked 'who is this ROTH guy'?